Renee Ribera moved to Mint Hill from Fords, New Jersey 20 years ago but as the largest Atlantic hurricane on record made landfall on the shore of her home state on October 29, it definitely struck home.

“It breaks my heart that the shore won’t be the same,” Ribera said. “It will never be the same again.”

Hurricane Sandy caused at least $20 billion in damage and caused power outages from Maine to Manhattan to North Carolina.

After the hurricane, Ribera began to figure out a way to help.

“It got me immediately thinking, what can we do, we’re here, everybody’s fine, we have power, we have resources,” Ribera said.